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Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:33:02 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1#304 – Steve and Alex – Confidence (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/304-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-2
http://englishlingq.com/304-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-2#respondTue, 02 Jul 2013 22:15:42 +0000http://englishlingq.com/?p=130087126Confidence comes when you are proficient at something. Confidence is also very important in the learning process. How does confidence improve your ability to learn language? Difficulty: Intermediate Category: Language Duration: 09:47 Click here to listen to Confidence (Part 2). Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Here’s an excerpt from the […]

Alex: It’s the same where I went to school in California. There is probably about half and half who study French and Spanish, but it’s the same for Spanish and French; both ways, yeah.

Steve: I know in my own experience in high school we had French and I got good marks, but wasn’t at all interested. Then I had a professor at university who just turned me on, subsequently, to learning other languages. There it was because the content of the course was just so interesting and the way he presented it. Here, again, it’s connecting with content that matters so you can understand stuff. I remember like at school you’ll always find the guy, say in French, whose mother is a Francophone and therefore who speaks French, but he gets poor marks.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/304-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-2/feed0#303 – Steve and Alex – Confidence (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/303-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-1
http://englishlingq.com/303-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-1#respondWed, 15 May 2013 23:58:58 +0000http://englishlingq.com/?p=130087106Confidence comes when you are proficient at something. Confidence is also very important in the learning process. How does confidence improve your ability to learn language? Difficulty: Intermediate Category: Language Duration: 13:12 Click here to listen to Confidence (Part 1). Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Here’s an excerpt from the […]

Alex: We had some requests on the forum and some people contact us personally and say hey, we’d love to hear another podcast.

Steve: Right.

Alex: So, here we are.

Steve: I never know what we should talk about, whether we should talk about the weather or politics, the economic situation, but one thing that struck me today that I wanted to talk about and get your opinions on is the issue of confidence in language learning. I’m even going to do a YouTube video on it. It is certainly true that if something good happens to you, say your favorite team wins a game or you get complimented on something or I score a goal in my Old Timer’s hockey, whatever, anything good happens you feel good.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/303-steve-and-alex-confidence-part-1/feed0#302 Steve and Alex – Multilingualism (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/302-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-2
http://englishlingq.com/302-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-2#respondFri, 11 May 2012 18:07:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/302-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-2How many languages do you know? What motivated you to learn a foreign language? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss the importance of motivation in learning a language and about the importance of promoting multilingualism. Difficulty: Intermed...

]]>How many languages do you know? What motivated you to learn a foreign language? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss the importance of motivation in learning a language and about the importance of promoting multilingualism.

Alex:Really, you have to make an effort to improve. It’s hard work, but I think definitely it’s so rewarding.

Steve:Well, it’s rewarding once you achieve the goal, but it’s also rewarding if I’m sitting there reading a book on Czech history in Czech. I mean I’m saying wow, look at me, I’m reading about Czech history in Czech. That’s very rewarding. Also, it’s very good for the brain, but I don’t necessarily think that you deliberately force the brain to do anything. It’s the fact that the brain is having to some how struggle with and put labels on and figure out this new language. As you are reading stuff that’s interesting, as you’re listening to stuff that’s interesting, all of that is very good work for the brain, I hope.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/302-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-2/feed0#301 Steve and Alex – Multilingualism (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/301-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-1
http://englishlingq.com/301-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-1#respondFri, 20 Apr 2012 20:11:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/301-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-1How many languages do you know? What motivated you to learn a foreign language? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss the importance of motivation in learning a language and about the importance of promoting multilingualism. Difficulty: Intermed...

]]>How many languages do you know? What motivated you to learn a foreign language? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss the importance of motivation in learning a language and about the importance of promoting multilingualism.

Steve:Well, that’s right. Yeah, and it can beat back Alzheimer’s. But the whole point and the reason I think it’s worthwhile talking about this is like okay, let’s say your case for example. I’ve heard you. You speak very good Korean with very good pronunciation. You don’t look the part.

Alex:Not so much. No.

Steve:No. And there’s no particular reason from your background that you should do that, except that you had a very strong interest in it. That’s the point I want to talk about is how many people could be good speakers of more than one language if they really felt they could do it. I think a lot of people don’t believe they can do it.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/301-steve-and-alex-multilingualism-part-1/feed0#300 Steve and Alex – Passive vs. Active Vocabulary (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/300-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula
http://englishlingq.com/300-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula#respondFri, 09 Mar 2012 22:25:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/300-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabulaDo you know a word when you can recognize it, or do you have to be able to actively use it? What does it mean to really know a word, and is having a large active vocabulary as useful as having a large passive vocabulary? In this podcast, Steve and...

]]>Do you know a word when you can recognize it, or do you have to be able to actively use it? What does it mean to really know a word, and is having a large active vocabulary as useful as having a large passive vocabulary? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss different definitions of “knowing” a word, what a typical active to passive ratio might be and more.

Alex:I forgot the word and as soon as I heard it I’m like oh, yeah, I remember that word, but I hadn’t used it in like two years.

Steve:And the other strange this is… Well, I have experienced this. I don’t know if you have. Over the two years, of course, your Korean has improved. You know many more words. You can read stuff more easily. You can understand people more easily and, yet, there will be some words that you knew two years ago, very simple words that you’ll forget now.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/300-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula/feed0#299 Steve and Alex – Passive vs. Active Vocabulary (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/299-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula
http://englishlingq.com/299-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula#respondTue, 21 Feb 2012 20:09:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/299-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabulaDo you know a word when you can recognize it, or do you have to be able to actively use it? What does it mean to really know a word, and is having a large active vocabulary as useful as having a large passive vocabulary? In this podcast, Steve and...

]]>Do you know a word when you can recognize it, or do you have to be able to actively use it? What does it mean to really know a word, and is having a large active vocabulary as useful as having a large passive vocabulary? In this podcast, Steve and Alex discuss different definitions of “knowing” a word, what a typical active to passive ratio might be and more.

Steve: I don’t care how familiar you are with that non-familiar writing system; it’s another level of strain, another level of difficulty. So what’s been your experience with learning vocabulary in Korean?

Alex: I’ll say to start off with, a different script. I had a friend in university, she was in her fourth year, she was Korean, from Korea, but she had moved to Canada about 10 years before. So I asked her one day. She was reading a research paper or something like that in English and I said “What is your English level compared to your Korean level as far as reading goes?” She says “Well, I would say probably my English is about the same now; like I’m able to read English as easily now as I am able to read Korean.” She was like 24 and had been in Canada for 10 years attending school, high school, everything, university for four years and it took her that long until she said “Well, they’re probably about the same.”

Steve: Yeah. I mean I’m not surprised. Even with the same script, I would say that. Even though I studied in France for three years and I’m quite comfortable in French, it’s easier to read in English. You end up doing a little more sub-vocalizing, but that’s even in the same script.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/299-steve-and-alex-passive-vs-active-vocabula/feed0#298 Steve and Alex – About World Leaders (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/298-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-2
http://englishlingq.com/298-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-2#respondTue, 10 Jan 2012 18:40:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/298-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-2Steve and Alex talk about various world leaders, including Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong Il, Dr. Martin Luther King and more. They discuss how these leaders came into power, why they became prominent and what they are known for. Difficulty: AdvancedCateg...

]]>Steve and Alex talk about various world leaders, including Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong Il, Dr. Martin Luther King and more. They discuss how these leaders came into power, why they became prominent and what they are known for.

Alex:Yeah. Well, even then. I mean even to people who know a lot about it North Korea is so illusive. It’s so difficult to find any substantive information to really learn more about it. I had the privilege of talking to a lot of professors who study Korean history and Korean politics and have spent a good portion of their life on this and even to them there’s a lot of uncertainty when it comes to really having insight into North Korea.

Steve:Well, you know it’s interesting. I read in the paper that children are taken from their parents and brainwashed from the age of like two. I mean that is tremendously powerful and so they probably did think that Kim Jong-il was like their father. They’re told that all the time. I know from listening to Echo Moskvy that when Stalin died, despite you know perhaps one in 10 Russians were either killed or imprisoned by him and I mean massive famine in farming areas all caused by this man, plus out and out just eliminating people, like shooting them, having them shot and yet when he died everyone thought they’d lost a family member because the power of indoctrination is so great. So maybe those people sincerely feel they lost, in a sense, somebody more important than their father.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/298-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-2/feed0#297 Steve and Alex – About World Leaders (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/297-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-1
http://englishlingq.com/297-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-1#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 23:40:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/297-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-1Steve and Alex talk about various world leaders, including Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong Il, Dr. Martin Luther King and more. They discuss how these leaders came into power, why they became prominent and what they are known for. Difficulty: AdvancedCateg...

]]>Steve and Alex talk about various world leaders, including Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong Il, Dr. Martin Luther King and more. They discuss how these leaders came into power, why they became prominent and what they are known for.

Alex: But it’s so interesting to see. I mean, in a way, when you compare the two it’s almost like it’s a different species. The thoughts that go through their heads are so differing. In a way, you can compare say Hitler to Martin Luther King, Jr. where they stand for things in the complete opposite spectrum I mean.

Steve: Exactly. What I think is unusual with people like Martin Luther King, which is another good example, or Havel or Nelson Mandela — and I think to some extent, although I don’t know that much about the Dalai Lama, maybe in fact he does abuse his power — but there is that expression “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We see it in politicians or even people who have a lot of money. Once they have power and influence they become corrupt. It corrupts people and what’s striking about those people is that they weren’t corrupted by power; at least they were able to give the impression that they weren’t corrupted by power. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, right?

]]>http://englishlingq.com/297-steve-and-alex-about-world-leaders-part-1/feed0Beginner #48 – Eating Out, Part 14http://englishlingq.com/beginner-48-eating-out-part-14
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-48-eating-out-part-14#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 19:33:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-48-eating-out-part-14A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 14 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diff...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 14 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-48-eating-out-part-14/feed0Beginner #47 – Eating Out, Part 13http://englishlingq.com/beginner-47-eating-out-part-13
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-47-eating-out-part-13#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 19:31:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-47-eating-out-part-13A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 13 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diff...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 13 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-47-eating-out-part-13/feed0Beginner #46 – In a restaurant, Part 12http://englishlingq.com/beginner-in-a-restaurant-part-12
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-in-a-restaurant-part-12#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 19:29:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-46-eating-out-part-12A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 12 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diff...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 12 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-in-a-restaurant-part-12/feed0Beginner #45 – Eating Out, Part 11http://englishlingq.com/beginner-45-eating-out-part-11
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-45-eating-out-part-11#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 19:28:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-45-eating-out-part-11A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 11 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diff...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 11 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

Steve: It’s just that I have put in that much effort into learning these other languages. Other people, for whatever reasons, didn’t have the time to do it, but the fact of speaking 10 versus two versus five, to me it’s got nothing to do with it. It’s just that that’s where I have chosen to spend my time.

Alex: Yeah, exactly.

Steve: It’s like a musician. If the musician doesn’t spend any time learning to play the trumpet he won’t know how to play the trumpet, but if he takes it upon himself to learn to play the trumpet he’ll be able to learn it.

Steve: Good. Yeah, it’s time to have another podcast. You know, one subject that comes up and we’re both, obviously, interested in languages and learning languages and many of the people who listen to this podcast, by definition, they’re interested in learning languages, whether it be English or some other language. There was a discussion on our forum about what are your motivations. Actually, one of our LingQ members from China said what is your motivation for learning Chinese and then there was a discussion about motivation and so forth.

Of course, most often you hear you should learn Chinese because you should. It’s a bit like in Canada you should learn French and, of course, because in Canada we should learn French, in fact, very few people learn French because you should learn French. So, now, it’s you should learn Chinese because the economy is growing and you might get a job. Does that really work, you should learn?

Alex: My experience has been the exact opposite. Whereas, when I was in elementary school I was in Canada and we had French, obviously, mandatory French lessons. When I was in grade seven I moved to the United States and I guess grade seven and eight I didn’t do any language study. When I hit grade nine — high school — then there was the option to take either French or Spanish. So I thought well, I already have some background in French and I have to take a language anyway so I’ll just take French. I’ll say, quite honestly, at that point I really had about zero interest in French. It was just to kind of fill that requirement.

Steve: I’ve mentioned this on my blog on a couple of occasions and on every occasion people have come back and said yeah. I thought I was the only one. That’s true. I mean it may not be true for everyone, but it’s true for a lot of people. True for a lot of people, so I would not worry. If you set your Korean aside and worked on Chinese or French or whatever for six months, you would go back to Korean and you’d do better.

Alex: Yeah. I think that’s an interesting thing, too, to take it from another perspective, is if you’ve been studying a language for a long time and you’re feeling what we talked about before, the doldrums or whatever, it’s good to take a break because that may in fact give you some time to process all that and refresh yourself with some other stuff and you go back to it with a new outlook.

Alex: I think that’s the thing, too, of having the confidence. Like you said before, you read a text in Czech you know three words. You listen to it five more times and then you read it again and you know seven words.

Steve: Right.

Alex: I think a lot of people get very discouraged at that, but I think it takes the know how to understand every little step counts and every little bit that you do is going to help you in the long run.

Steve: I know that if I keep washing these words over me, listening to them, reading them, reviewing them, that they will eventually stick because that has happened to me in all these other languages, so I’m confident. Like I’m climbing up this mountain, I know I’m going to reach the peak.

Alex: Yeah.

Steve: Someone who hasn’t done this before is gee, I wonder how far it is. Am I going to make it? I’ll never get anywhere. I’ll get stuck. I’ll get lost. So they have all these kinds of apprehensions, which I don’t have.

But, yeah, with Portuguese it took me forever, listening to Living Language, listening to Teach Yourself. I went to Portugal and I really couldn’t understand what people were saying. Although, I could read the newspaper, it’s largely the same, right? Whereas, now I feel after 10 days I’m very confident that in a year from now if I go to Prague I’ll be able to communicate.

Alex: Yeah. Cool. Here’s another one, “Strike while the iron is hot.” Speaking from personal experience, there are moments where I feel super motivated to do something and there are moments where I feel completely unmotivated to do it. But the idea of “strike while the iron is hot”, I think this can be applied in the sense of if you’re motivated to do something, at that moment you start. You do it. You make your best effort to make that a habit so that then when maybe your motivation is staring to kind of dwindle that you still have this as a habit. You’ve set it in stone while you were motivated and you can continue on even when you don’t feel motivated.

Steve: I fully agree and I would add two comments. One is that when you are motivated, because our motivation does fluctuate, then you should just go at it until that motivation peters out. If it means three hours, four hours that day, just go at it. You’re in the mood.

The other thing is, as you say, if we take advantage of when we’re motivated, we can develop some good habits which will tide us over when we’re a little bit less motivated. So, in both senses we’re taking advantage of a situation and we’re striking while the iron is hot.

Steve: But, I mean, if I worried about it for every one of the languages that I speak I would really be tongue tied. I wouldn’t speak them at all.Alex: Yeah.Steve: It’s only by speaking them that we really improve in speaking. Obviously, we can improve our comprehension by listening and reading, by increasing our vocabulary. But, ultimately, speaking is a specific skill so at some point you’ve got to speak a lot.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/290-steve-and-alex-language-learning-plateau/feed0#289 Steve and Alex – Steve’s Trip to Russia (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/289-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part
http://englishlingq.com/289-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part#respondWed, 29 Jun 2011 22:39:59 +0000http://englishlingq.com/289-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-partSteve talks about his recent trip to Russia, including the places he went, the people he met and the experience of traveling to Russia after learning Russian for four years. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Travel Duration: 9:14Click here to list...

Steve: So, yeah. I mean, I feel that my Russian took a big step forward and my motivation is greater than it ever was. But, it was nice to go there and to be able to operate, like I felt comfortable. Other than the odd surly clerk at the train station, most people were very friendly and I could communicate and to them it’s only natural that I speak Russian.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/289-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part/feed0#288 Steve and Alex – Steve’s Trip to Russia (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/288-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part
http://englishlingq.com/288-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part#respondWed, 22 Jun 2011 23:50:02 +0000http://englishlingq.com/288-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-partSteve talks about his recent trip to Russia, including the places he went, the people he met and the experience of traveling to Russia after learning Russian for four years. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Travel Duration: 9:21Click here to list...

Steve: Initially, I was in Berlin for a day because we have some business dealings there and then I was in Latvia for a day and a half. I’ve been to both places before.

Alex: Okay.

Steve: And then, finally, having spent the last four years, you know, an hour a day most days learning Russian, I finally got a chance to travel to Russia. For me it was really exciting.

So I arrived in St. Petersburg Airport, walked through the airport smooth as can be. I had images of all kinds of bureaucratic whatever, long delays and stuff. It was no big deal at all. Walked right through, got my bag very quickly and was met by Eugene (Evgueny), who is our programmer, who lives in St. Petersburg, just an awfully nice guy. We took a cab in. It was seven or eight hundred rubles.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/288-steve-and-alex-steves-trip-to-russia-part/feed0#287 Steve and Alex – Coarse Languagehttp://englishlingq.com/287-steve-and-alex-coarse-language
http://englishlingq.com/287-steve-and-alex-coarse-language#respondWed, 08 Jun 2011 22:37:47 +0000http://englishlingq.com/287-steve-and-alex-coarse-languageSteve and Alex talk about coarse language, why some people like to use it and what it represents to different people. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Everyday Life Duration: 10:10Click here to listen to Forces of Nature. Click here to see the fu...

Alex: Yeah and that’s an interesting thing, too, it is cultural. It’s not just the language, too, because when my sister was in the U.K. she said people much more actively use swear words and it’s much more common place. Whereas, in Canada and the United States people often hold their tongue and are more reserved in that regard.

Steve: I mean, yeah. And I think that sometimes people from a different culture don’t realize the effect it has. Like we had a visitor from Sweden on business and he felt that what we call the “F-bomb” in English was equivalent to devil, which is “fan”, which is the F-bomb if you want it in Swedish.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/287-steve-and-alex-coarse-language/feed0#286 Steve and Alex – Forces of Naturehttp://englishlingq.com/286-steve-and-alex-forces-of-nature
http://englishlingq.com/286-steve-and-alex-forces-of-nature#respondWed, 01 Jun 2011 20:17:18 +0000http://englishlingq.com/286-steve-and-alex-forces-of-natureSteve and Alex talk about various different natural disasters that happened in Canada and around the world. They also discuss what it means to do something useful in life. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Environment Duration: 10:45Click here to ...

Alex: Yeah. I remember when I used to live in California, actually, up until four years ago. It was southern California and it’s really dry in the summers and we had a lot of forest fires. I remember, particularly, I think 2006 or 2007, there was massive forest fires all across the state. Actually, nearby my house there was a forest fire going on at one point and when I was sitting in my room I could smell the fires burning. I remember driving through a few weeks later on a back country road and on both sides of the street all the trees were burnt to a crisp.Steve: Wow.Alex: Yeah.Steve: I mean in Slave Lake, of course, you hear them say how the town’s people are all helping each other and there’s a great sense of solidarity and so forth. And I guess there’s a certain amount of, I don’t know what you’d call it, nervous tension or people are coping with the situation, much like on a much, much, much greater scale in Japan.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/286-steve-and-alex-forces-of-nature/feed0#285 Steve and Alex – Russiahttp://englishlingq.com/285-steve-and-alex-russia
http://englishlingq.com/285-steve-and-alex-russia#respondWed, 25 May 2011 20:02:21 +0000http://englishlingq.com/285-steve-and-alex-russiaSteve and Alex talk about Steve's first trip to the Soviet Union, his experience learning Russian and his planned trip to Russia. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Travel Duration: 11:36Click here to listen to Russia. Click here to see the full tr...

Steve: My passport, sorry, yeah. So then I had to get a new Canadian passport. I’m leaving next Tuesday and I’m hoping that I get my passport back from Ottawa from the Russian Embassy via this company that I had to pay a fortune here too, so a bit of a kafuffle.

Alex: Yes.

Steve: However, I mean St. Petersburg, Leningrad is going to be phenomenal. It’s a phenomenal city. I’ve read Dostoevsky and Anna Karenina where they go back and forth between Moscow and St. Petersburg and stuff, so to walk around there and to take that in and to meet people. And then I’m taking a high-speed train from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Alex: Oh, okay.

Steve: Yeah, it leaves at 7:00 in the morning. I mean it’s just going to be phenomenal. I’m really, really looking forward. And I think that’s the ultimate reward when you learn a language is to have an opportunity to go to the country.

Steve: Yeah, which gets back to your earlier point. There has to be a genuine social desire to connect with people. You can’t use people as free tutors.

Alex: Yeah and I think that was my experience in that I didn’t want to meet these people so that I could improve my Korean, but I genuinely wanted to hang out with them, spend time with them, be friends with them.

Steve: Right, right.

Alex: Right. And so it made it less of a burden of, you know, my Korean sucks and more like hey, I want to talk to you so let’s work through our bad language skills and continue to grow.

Steve: Right. And because they’re your friends they would have a little more patience than if you just accosted them on the street.

Steve: Do you feel that if you were with a group of Koreans and they’re talking about something that you can sort of jump in there and hold your own?

Alex: It totally depends on the topic, but much more now so than say six months ago or a year ago. And, yeah, I still…like, for instance, I went to a conference, an entrepreneurship conference, which was just like three days long. Everything was in Korean, everyone was talking in Korean and I was very quiet because I was primarily focused on trying to understand what people were saying. So, I didn’t have as much brain energy to put towards thinking of something to respond with but rather focusing on understanding what was being said.

Steve: But, having been in similar situations at various stages of my language learning, did you feel that you could have stood up and said something, commented, asked a question, and you probably could have done it, but you were afraid that you would sort of run out of gas halfway through and stumble and look foolish?

Alex: Yeah. Now, I’ll bring up a story of a close friend of mine in high school. He was Korean-American born in the United States, but his parents were both from Korea and had immigrated 25 years ago or something like that. Anyway, his mom was the typical Tiger Mom, I guess. She wasn’t as strict, but at the same time he grew up playing piano, playing violin, for how ever many years. I don’t even know how many years it was, probably at least a dozen years of each and by the time he graduated high school he had a senior recital, which was just him doing all his instruments, including his piano, including his violin.
But, about three years before that he had picked up the guitar and that was something that he really enjoyed. He became passionate about the guitar and so as soon as he finished his senior recital he dropped violin, he dropped piano and he says okay, I’ve accomplished what my parents wanted me to accomplish with this.
Now he continues to play the guitar, continues to sing and, really, I think he benefits from that musical exposure, but at the same time it goes to show that his parents wanted him to do these things. But, in fact, now that he has more freedom he says I don’t want to do those. I want to do this. I enjoy this more.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/282-steve-and-alex-tiger-moms-part-2/feed0Learn English Online with LingQhttp://englishlingq.com/learn-english-online-with-lingq
http://englishlingq.com/learn-english-online-with-lingq#respondMon, 14 Mar 2011 23:47:46 +0000http://englishlingq.com/learn-english-online-with-lingqWelcome to English LingQ! We hope our podcasts help you learn English online quickly and efficiently. In addition to the EnglishLingQ podcasts, there are thousands more English lessons available to study on LingQ using our revolutionary system for...

]]>Welcome to English LingQ! We hope our podcasts help you learn English online quickly and efficiently. In addition to the EnglishLingQ podcasts, there are thousands more English lessons available to study on LingQ using our revolutionary system for language learning online.

Whether you’re an absolute beginner or an advanced English learner, LingQ will help you achieve your goals. Our vast library of mp3 downloads all with transcript comes in a wide range of topics. Learn from beginner dialogues, podcasts, news articles, audiobooks and more. You decide what you want to learn from based on your interests and your level. Use our learning tools to learn the vocabulary you come across. Speak and write with native speakers on our community. You’ll find everything you need to learn how to speak English fluently.

Steve: Okay, playing the piano. I took piano lessons. I hated them. I was allowed to quit at the age of 12. To some extent, I regret that I didn’t continue playing piano, but I just couldn’t play piano when my friends were out playing football or hockey, right? So my mother, she actually forced me for quite a few years. There was a lot of pressure. Maybe she was a Tiger Mom. Eventually she just gave up.

But, the point is to some extent doesn’t the parent have to force. Is there not a requirement to put pressure on the kids to do certain things that are in their interest, playing piano, learning a language, I don’t know, being nice to the neighbors? I mean whatever, it depends on the kid. Obviously, if the kids are well behaved that’s fine. If your kids are out, you know, vandalizing the neighborhood that’s another problem.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/281-steve-and-alex-tiger-moms-part-1/feed0#280 Steve and Alex – More English Proverbs and Language Learning (Part 2)http://englishlingq.com/280-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and
http://englishlingq.com/280-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and#respondThu, 03 Mar 2011 19:31:35 +0000http://englishlingq.com/280-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-andSteve and Alex discuss various English proverbs and how they can be applied to language learning. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language Duration: 9:22Click here to listen to More English Proverbs and Language Learning (Part 2). Click here to ...

Alex: I can speak about that in my own personal experiences with my foreign languages that I’m learning. Is that sometimes when I doubt my ability, I find those are the times that I perform the worst, but when I have the confidence and the faith that I’m able to do it then I surprise myself a lot of the time.

Steve: And it is true that we surprise ourselves. When we go in there and it’s like we’re just going to do it, you know, we just jump on that diving board. We’re going to do our triple flip, half gainer or whatever, land in the water and, just totally, without any sense of anxiety, we’re surprised. Wow! I said that? Where did that phrase come from? Where did that word come from?

So, yeah, I think we are all capable of speaking better and doing better and we all have a degree of anxiety. There is no language learner without anxiety. I feel much more comfortable speaking English then speaking any other language.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/280-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and/feed0#279 Steve and Alex – More English Proverbs and Language Learning (Part 1)http://englishlingq.com/279-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and
http://englishlingq.com/279-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and#respondFri, 25 Feb 2011 20:48:11 +0000http://englishlingq.com/279-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-andSteve and Alex discuss various English proverbs and how they can be applied to language learning. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language Duration: 9:43Click here to listen to More English Proverbs and Language Learning (Part 1). Click here to ...

Steve: You don’t want to be crawling too much, no. All right, so what else have we got? Oh, here’s one. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” I used to hear this when I was a kid. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Wasn’t there something about “Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy but socially dead”?

Alex: I haven’t heard that one, but I like it.

Steve: Yeah, that was the counter. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, if we ate nothing but very healthy food, never touched a drop of alcohol, went to bed at 9:00, woke up…basically, went to bed at sundown and woke up at sunrise and then went outside in the cold and threw snow on our bodies, you know, it’d be good. Now how all of this relates to language learning, because we have to bring it all back to language learning.

Alex: Of course, of course.

Steve: I just think that routines are good. So, I mean, if you have a routine, whether it’s a routine of going to bed late and waking up late or whatever, but if you can develop a habit of always devoting an hour a day, two hours a day, however many hours a day that you have and do it regularly and develop certain habits, it’s amazing how we get used to habits.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/279-steve-and-alex-more-english-proverbs-and/feed0#278 Steve and Alex – English Proverbs and Language Learninghttp://englishlingq.com/278-steve-and-alex-english-proverbs-and-langu
http://englishlingq.com/278-steve-and-alex-english-proverbs-and-langu#respondTue, 08 Feb 2011 23:28:53 +0000http://englishlingq.com/278-steve-and-alex-english-proverbs-and-languSteve and Alex discuss various English proverbs and how they can be applied to language learning. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language Duration: 17:13Click here to listen to Proverbs. Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Fo...

Steve: …and once you start in a language, even if you are sort of lukewarm about the language and I’ve had this experience before, the more you get engaged with the language.

Korean is a good example. I mean Korea is not the biggest country in the world and it’s certainly not the best-known culture in the world, but the more I get into Korean the more I can’t let go because it starts to grab you. So to someone who’s not involved with Korean, Korean may seem an insignificant language, maybe not a particular beautiful language, but as you get engaged with it then you get turned on and so beauty is in the eye or the ear of the beholder or the listener.

Alex: Well put. So here’s another which says “Better late then never.” I think this is really important and it’s the idea of you can learn a language whenever. Like you don’t have to be seven years old or four years old or 14 or anything like that. You know you, as an example, Steve. Now you’re 65 and you’re continuing on.

Steve: I’m not getting any younger.

Alex: Exactly, but continuing on just as you were before.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Alex: But I think, you know, as an encouragement to people who may be in their adulthood, midlife or even older that it’s better to learn a language late than to never learn it at all.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/278-steve-and-alex-english-proverbs-and-langu/feed0#277 – Steve and Alex – Tablethttp://englishlingq.com/277-steve-and-alex-tablet
http://englishlingq.com/277-steve-and-alex-tablet#respondThu, 20 Jan 2011 01:09:30 +0000http://englishlingq.com/277-steve-and-alex-tabletSteve and Alex talk about the iPad, the tablet and how it might affect the future of learning. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Education Duration: 16:35Click here to listen to Tablet. Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. For an...

Steve: It’s interesting. So, we are investing more and more money. I mentioned in some discussion, I think, about the book The Rational Optimist where Matt Ridley points out that the cost of just about every product we consume – agricultural products, consumer products, industrial products – all these costs have gone way down, like a fraction of where they were and, of course, the speed of travel and we’re feeding twice as many people. Everything has improved except education, which costs more and more with poorer and poorer outcomes or at least no significant improvement in outcomes.

Alex: Right.

Steve: Furthermore, the education, which is the largest item in the budget of many countries, is still targeted primarily at that under-20 age group between elementary, high school and university. So they’re not even taking that public education budget and spending it on the whole population, but we know that we continue to learn throughout our lives.

Alex: Yup.

Steve: So I think that the electronic tablet has tremendous potential.

Alex: I think it really opens up the doors for a lot of people to pursue things that previously weren’t accessible, I mean for a working professional.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/277-steve-and-alex-tablet/feed0Learning English Simplyhttp://englishlingq.com/learning-english-simply
http://englishlingq.com/learning-english-simply#respondSat, 01 Jan 2011 00:10:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/80411823Learning English Simply Dramatically increase your vocabulary so you're comfortable & confident in any situation. Get help from a personal tutor. Learn English online 24/7 and meet people from around the world. English LingQ is a podcast produced ...

Dramatically increase your vocabulary so you’re comfortable & confident in any situation. Get help from a personal tutor. Learn English online 24/7 and meet people from around the world.

English LingQ is a podcast produced by LingQ.com: a site where you can learn English and 10 other languages online.

On this site you will find thousands of English lessons to read and listen to free of charge. The podcasts cover beginner, intermediate, and advanced level lessons and topics include basic greetings, social issues, language learning and more all in natural English.

We also have transcripts for every lesson available on LingQ, so sign up for a FREE account and start learning English today!

]]>http://englishlingq.com/learning-english-simply/feed0# 276 – Steve and Alex – Christmashttp://englishlingq.com/276-steve-and-alex-christmas
http://englishlingq.com/276-steve-and-alex-christmas#respondFri, 31 Dec 2010 03:43:15 +0000http://englishlingq.com/-276-steve-and-alex-christmasSteve and Alex talk about the Christmas holidays and what each of them have planned during the Christmas break. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Culture and Religion Duration: 14:40Click here to listen to Christmas. Click here to see the full tra...

Steve: It’s Christmas. First of all, Christmas is, I guess, more of a family event versus New Year is more of a party, go out with your friends event, right?

Alex: I find that is the case. It depends on the country really. In Korea it’s not at all that case; whereas, Christmas is not really a big holiday, it’s mostly between couples, but in North America, for the most part, Christmas is a very family-oriented holiday.

Steve: I should comment that Alex is our resident Korean, right? So, yeah…

Alex: Yeah. Not Korean by race…

Steve: No.

Alex: …but simply by affiliation, we’ll call it.

Steve: Yeah, so family. So have you already bought all your presents for your family members?

Mark: We can certainly get to some of your stories, I’m sure. I guess probably the first thing we can do is explain what they’re doing here at our building, because chances are you’ll hear a lot of construction noises in our podcast for the foreseeable future.

Alex: There’s a hammer.

Mark: Yeah, there you go. A little banging, a little authenticity…

Alex: There we go.

Mark: …to the podcast. I think they’re supposed to be working on the building until March-April or the spring at least.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/275-mark-and-alex-construction/feed0#274 – Mark and Alex – iPhone 4http://englishlingq.com/274-mark-and-alex-iphone-4
http://englishlingq.com/274-mark-and-alex-iphone-4#respondTue, 30 Nov 2010 20:25:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/274-mark-and-alex-iphone-4Mark and Alex talk about the features of the new iPhone 4 and Mark shares his story of how he managed to get one on the first day it came out in Canada. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Web/Tech, Entertainment Duration: 9:33Click here to listen t...

Alex: But, at the same time I can use it at home for a multitude of different applications. There’s so much functionality that’s just built in to the whole system that I can one second be listening to a song and then decide, hey, I want to study my Chinese flashcards and go on to do that and the next minute be thinking of, oh, I wonder, you know, what is the GDP of India.

Mark: Right.

Alex: You know?

Mark: Which happens.

Alex: Yeah and then go in and find that out. You know it’s actually a really neat resource for someone like me who’s kind of an information buff, I guess.

Mark: Yeah. No, it is amazing what it can do and that’s the biggest thing, you know, that separates it from some of the other phones, I think, like the Blackberries and the Androids and so forth, which presumably have similar technology, similar cameras and processors and, I don’t know what, the touch screens and that. But the number of apps that are available on the iPhone and I know we have our own iPhone app at LingQ.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/274-mark-and-alex-iphone-4/feed0#273 – Mark and Alex – New Lesson Pagehttp://englishlingq.com/273-mark-and-alex-new-lesson-page
http://englishlingq.com/273-mark-and-alex-new-lesson-page#respondWed, 27 Oct 2010 19:17:33 +0000http://englishlingq.com/273-mark-and-alex-new-lesson-pageMark and Alex talk about the new features on the Lesson page, including QuickLingQ, Notes, and Videos. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language Learning, LingQ Duration: 11:21Click here to listen to New Lesson Page. Click here to see the full tr...

Mark: Quick LingQing for sure. I think it’s a big improvement, you know? Certainly it depends. Sometimes I like to use them, sometimes I don’t.

Alex: Yeah.

Mark: Like if the text is shorter and it’s in a language I’m not as familiar with where I’m LingQing a lot of words but I kind of need the context too and there’s maybe a lot of yellow words I want to look up quickly as well then I’ll use the standard LingQing format. But if it’s in a language where there are fewer blue words and I really only need to go through and take off those blue words, I find that Quick LingQing works great.

Alex: And that’s one of things. I mean we put a lot of thought into how we wanted to do this best so that it suited both the users who like seeing the yellow on their text, but also those who like reading it straight through; you know, highlighting and copying and pasting and so on and so forth. So, hopefully we added enough functionality so that we can tailor to both groups.

Mark: Absolutely. And one of the big advantages of the Quick LingQs, I know we always had a lot of people asking us, you know, many of you want to be able to copy and paste the text and you couldn’t. You can’t do that in the standard view, but you can in the Quick LingQ view. So you can go through your Quick LingQs and actually copy and paste from the adjacent text right into your LingQs as you create them. So there are advantages to both ways of doing it. I mean choice, right?

Steve:
I mean the great thing there is that you’re in a closed space with two native speakers. Nobody is in a hurry to go anywhere or do anything, so if they’re willing, which isn’t always the case. I mean they might.

Alex:
Right.

Steve:
Like I can imagine myself, I’m in a train compartment and I’ve got my books and my stuff and maybe I want to listen to Russian or whatever and the person across from me wants to practice his English. I’m not sure that I’d be that interested in spending the next hour and a half. But, of course, in China you’re more of a rarity, you know, so there would be more interest.

Alex:
Right.

Steve:
You’re lucky. I mean you’re very lucky that they were so accommodating. But it is a great opportunity because, otherwise, if you go to a store they’re in a hurry, you know, they haven’t got time for you.

Alex:
Yeah, exactly.

Steve:
I mean I always this, you know, it’s great to find someone that you can talk to, but you can’t control that situation. You can’t control whether they’re patient, not patient, have time for you, don’t have time for you.

Alex: My primary purpose is just to get as much exposure to Chinese language and culture as possible.

Steve: I mean, I think that’s a good strategy because, as I always say, attitude is so important. So the more positive you are towards the culture and the people the better you’ll learn because you’re not resisting. You’re just sort of eating it all up.

Alex: Right.

Steve: And so, mostly, I’ll tell you, in Beijing it’s not easy to understand them because they speak Beijing, but there’s a lot of “rah, rah, rah”. That’ll be good.

Alex: Yeah.

Steve: That’ll be good.

Alex: I’ve had a few friends of mine who are also Chinese language learners and pretty much the consensus is that it’s really hard to speak like people in Beijing speak.

Steve: And, probably, you know, European society was like that as well at one point because people couldn’t travel very far, but probably at some point, even in Guinea, they will gradually…and it’s not because of the evil Internet, American imperialists or anything else. I mean right now they speak French and then their native language, but they may eventually develop a common language for Guinea. Such as, we now have common languages in, say, France or Germany or Italy; whereas, 1,000 years ago, every little village had its own language.

I agree with you. Most people don’t like to maintain five languages, they’re quite happy with having one that serves their purpose. And having one language for a country of 20 million people may be more useful than having one that only works for 25, so, yeah.

Mark: I mean, I think in countries where they’re trying to revive native languages, Daisuke talked about Cornish. I don’t know anything about Cornish, other than, presumably, it was spoken in Cornwall, I don’t know, in England. But, I’m guessing, they’re not going to have a lot of success there because England is not that big a place.

So if you learn English, you live day to day in English, you might be forced to learn Cornish in school, but it’s like one hour a week and the rest of the time you’re in English. I just don’t see a future for a language like that.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/269-mark-steve-dying-languages-intermediate/feed0#268 Steve & Mark – The World Cup and Teachers – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/268-steve-mark-the-world-cup-and-teachers-int
http://englishlingq.com/268-steve-mark-the-world-cup-and-teachers-int#respondWed, 16 Jun 2010 16:58:44 +0000http://englishlingq.com/268-steve-mark-the-world-cup-and-teachers-intSteve and Mark begin by talking about the upcoming World Cup of Soccer and then quickly digress onto the subject of a recent announcement of a Canadian teacher's union. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Education, SportsDuration: 18:43Click here t...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/268-steve-mark-the-world-cup-and-teachers-int/feed0#267 Mark and Steve – Acupuncturist and Politics – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/267-mark-and-steve-acupuncturist-and-politics-i
http://englishlingq.com/267-mark-and-steve-acupuncturist-and-politics-i#respondSat, 22 May 2010 13:59:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/267-mark-and-steve-acupuncture-and-politics-iMark and Steve talk about recent visits to the acupuncturist as well as a variety of other, not necessarily related topics, including politics. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Health, PoliticsDuration: 20:01Click here to listen to Acupuncture an...

Steve: Speaking of China and growth and stuff, I was in my car on the way back from my appointment downtown. I was listening to the history of Sweden in Swedish and, so, a number of thoughts kind of went through my mind. First of all that, really, the quality of, you know, mp3 players is such that, you know, I just plug it into my car radio and I’m listening to this phenomenal audio book on the history of Sweden. My car is my university lecture hall.

Mark: Right.

Steve: It is.

Mark: Yeah.

Steve: And, yeah, occasionally, I tune out, so I don’t run over someone.

Mark: Right.

Steve: You know? I mean you can’t be 100% concentrating, but then I thought to myself, when I’m sitting in a lecture hall I’m gazing out the window half the time. I mean how much do people concentrate in a lecture hall?

]]>http://englishlingq.com/267-mark-and-steve-acupuncturist-and-politics-i/feed0#266 Mark & Steve – Ash Cloud – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/266-mark-steve-ash-cloud-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/266-mark-steve-ash-cloud-intermediate#respondSat, 08 May 2010 13:25:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/266-mark-steve-ash-cloud-intermediateSteve tells Mark about his experiences in Europe during the famous Ash Cloud. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Environment Duration: 19:46Click here to listen to Ash Cloud. Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. For an excerpt fro...

Mark: If it was possible for an airline to charge more and provide a full service, you know, great food, whatever, full compensation if you’re inconvenienced, yeah, we charge more but we provide all this, I think if it was possible to do that and make money someone would be doing it. So, therefore, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Steve: Right. That’s a good English expression. Yeah, but, I mean the consumer is the consumer. As long as the consumer has a choice, but if all the airlines go broke then the consumer won’t have a choice. There won’t be any airlines flying.

Mark: It was interesting. Kate here in the office was saying that a friend of hers had bought a charter ticket.

Steve: Oh, they’re the worst.

Mark: They’re the worst, yeah. So they had a charter bought during that period to go to Europe for a week. Whether it was flight and hotels or not I don’t know, but they had bought their charter and then they couldn’t go because no flights could go to Europe and apparently they just lost their money.

Steve: But, you know, it is interesting. Like if you took a course in something you would know 20 people in your class. Now, with the Internet, people are reaching out across the world to people and saying let’s get behind getting Cantonese launched on this language-learning site so that they’re involved in actually helping make a course of study available.

I was looking at our forum today and one of the new members, who was studying one of our new sort of introductory lessons, you know, where they can get the free discussion and everything else and they had a problem. They said I did this and this happened. What do I do now? Please help. And like three people are on there very quickly. So you’ve got this community of learners helping you when you run into a problem. In a classroom, yeah, you could ask the person beside you, but here you can ask the world.

Mark: Plus, if you’re not in your class and you’re doing your homework who do you ask.

Steve: Right, it’s extraordinary. And now that I have my iPod Touch I’m just in seventh heaven. I mean it’s amazing that I can just carry my little flashcards around with me and take advantage of dead time. Waiting for my wife at the airport the other day, I’m sitting there working with my flashcards and I got into trouble because she walked through, you know, where all the passengers come out. And I was making a point of, you know, looking up every 30 seconds just so I wouldn’t miss her.

Mark: Thirty seconds or so, I guess, obviously.

Steve: I thought I saw everybody walking out, but I missed her. And so she walked through and she’s wandering around and she doesn’t see me. By the time she found me — 15 minutes later — she was mad and I’m still hearing about it.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/265-mark-steve-language-contest-intermediate/feed0#264 Mark & Steve – Homes – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/264-mark-steve-homes-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/264-mark-steve-homes-intermediate#respondSat, 10 Apr 2010 09:07:25 +0000http://englishlingq.com/264-mark-steve-homes-intermediateMark and Steve talk about homes; the way they are built and designed in North America compared to elsewhere in the world. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: CultureDuration: 18:05Click here to listen to Homes. Click here to see the full transcript ...

Steve: I remember in Japan, some years ago, when we were comparing house designs in different countries and we explained that in North America it’s quite common to have a kitchen counter and that way things can be passed over to either eat on the counter or eat at the table and the Japanese couldn’t understand that because, from their point of view, the wife should bring the food out from the kitchen.

Mark: And the kitchen is kind of tucked away and hidden.

Steve: Tucked away somewhere, but I think all of these things change.

Mark: Oh, for sure. I mean I think it used to be the case here where the kitchen was more of a separate room. But the one thing that you do find is that if you have a party, whether your kitchen opens out on a…our kitchen is quite open, but even if it isn’t, people tend to gravitate toward the kitchen.

Steve: Right.

Mark: People always end up in the kitchen.

Steve: Absolutely.

Mark: Which is, I think, how this type of living came about or this type of design came about. Because people want to be in the kitchen, so why not make the kitchen part of the living area.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/264-mark-steve-homes-intermediate/feed0#263 Mark & Steve – Food – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/263-mark-steve-food-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/263-mark-steve-food-intermediate#respondFri, 19 Mar 2010 13:16:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/263-mark-steve-food-intermediateMark and Steve talk about food and the different types of food they eat at home and that are available in Vancouver. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Food and DrinkDuration: 17:14Click here to listen to Mark & Steve on Food. Click here to see the...

Steve: Yeah, but in Japan there seems to be more different sort of modern adaptation, fusion; looking to do different things. I had the impression, actually, that there’s more of that in China than there is here. That you find more call it experimental fusion-type restaurants with Chinese food in China than here; whereas, here it seems to be this sort of set formula.

Mark: Right. There’s certainly sort of the standard Chinese restaurant that does a lot of take out business.

Steve: Right.

Mark: Yeah, but, I mean, I think there are some fusion-type places, I think. I don’t know.

Steve: When you look at the kind of ethnic restaurants we have here, we have a lot of Asian restaurants, a lot of Italian restaurants, some French restaurants, one or two Russian restaurants. I have to know that because I’m interested in Russian.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/263-mark-steve-food-intermediate/feed0#262 Mark & Steve – Olympics Update – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/262-mark-steve-olympics-update-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/262-mark-steve-olympics-update-intermediate#respondFri, 05 Mar 2010 18:41:35 +0000http://englishlingq.com/262-mark-steve-olympic-update-intermediateMark and Steve talk about different aspects of the Olympics taking place in Vancouver.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: SportsDuration: 19:28Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Olympic Update.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/262-mark-steve-olympics-update-intermediate/feed0#261 Steve & Mark – Olympics Coming to Vancouver – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/261-steve-mark-olympics-coming-to-vancouver-i
http://englishlingq.com/261-steve-mark-olympics-coming-to-vancouver-i#respondWed, 10 Feb 2010 12:10:56 +0000http://englishlingq.com/261-steve-mark-olympics-coming-to-vancouver-iSteve and Mark get excited about the imminent Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current AffairsDuration: 17:35Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Olympics Coming t...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/260-mark-steve-haitian-earthquake-intermediate/feed0#259 Mark and Steve – Happy New Year – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/259-mark-and-steve-happy-new-year-intermediat
http://englishlingq.com/259-mark-and-steve-happy-new-year-intermediat#respondThu, 07 Jan 2010 13:06:34 +0000http://englishlingq.com/259-mark-and-steve-happy-new-year-intermediatMark and Steve talk about their New Years Holiday and the new decade.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Everyday LifeDuration: 16:11Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Happy New Year.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/256-kate-steve-swine-flu-intermediate/feed0#255 Allison and Liz – How They Met their Husbands – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/255-allison-and-liz-how-they-met-their-husbands-inte
http://englishlingq.com/255-allison-and-liz-how-they-met-their-husbands-inte#respondSat, 10 Oct 2009 13:45:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/255-allison-and-liz-how-i-met-my-husband-inteAllison and Liz talk about how they met their husbands.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Love and MarriageDuration: 05:48Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Click here to listen to How I Met My Husband.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/255-allison-and-liz-how-they-met-their-husbands-inte/feed0#254 Mark and Steve – Tennis Tournament and Rock Stars – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/254-mark-and-steve-tennis-tournament-and-rock-stars-inte
http://englishlingq.com/254-mark-and-steve-tennis-tournament-and-rock-stars-inte#respondSat, 26 Sep 2009 13:14:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/254-mark-and-steve-tennis-and-rock-stars-inteMark and Steve talk about the recent US Open tennis tournament and about a recent Sarah McLachlan concert in West Vancouver. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Sports, MusicDuration: 16:41Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Click...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/254-mark-and-steve-tennis-tournament-and-rock-stars-inte/feed0#252 Mark & Steve – Kids Language Learning and Nationalism – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/252-mark-steve-kids-language-learning-and-nat
http://englishlingq.com/252-mark-steve-kids-language-learning-and-nat#respondSun, 23 Aug 2009 17:11:54 +0000http://englishlingq.com/252-mark-steve-kids-language-learning-and-natSteve and Mark talk about how to induce kids to learn another language, and nationalism, in answer to questions received from their listeners.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: EducationDuration: 21:12 Click here to see the full transcript of this ...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/250-mark-steve-forest-fires-part-1-intermedia/feed0#249 Mark & Steve – The Lake, a Bookstore and Democracy – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/249-mark-steve-the-lake-a-bookstore-and-democracy
http://englishlingq.com/249-mark-steve-the-lake-a-bookstore-and-democracy#respondThu, 09 Jul 2009 18:26:10 +0000http://englishlingq.com/249-mark-steve-the-lake-a-bookstore-and-democMark talks about his trip to the lake. Steve talks about a visit to the language section of the book store. They both end up talking about democracy.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Everyday Life, PoliticsDuration: 20:37Click here to see the full...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/249-mark-steve-the-lake-a-bookstore-and-democracy/feed0#248 Mark & Steve – Dentists and Iran – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/248-mark-steve-dentists-and-iran-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/248-mark-steve-dentists-and-iran-intermediate#respondThu, 25 Jun 2009 17:56:48 +0000http://englishlingq.com/248-mark-steve-dentists-and-iran-intermediateMark and Steve talk about sitting in the dentists chair and recent events in Iran.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current AffairsDuration: 18:40Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Dentists and Iran.re/23...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/248-mark-steve-dentists-and-iran-intermediate/feed0#247 Mark & Steve – Energy – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/247-mark-steve-energy-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/247-mark-steve-energy-intermediate#respondThu, 11 Jun 2009 17:28:38 +0000http://englishlingq.com/247-mark-steve-energy-intermediateMark and Steve talk about the future of oil and other types of energy.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: EnvironmentDuration: 18:14Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Mark and Steve on Energy.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/247-mark-steve-energy-intermediate/feed0#246 Steve & Mark – NHL Playoffs – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/246-steve-mark-nhl-playoffs-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/246-steve-mark-nhl-playoffs-intermediate#respondThu, 04 Jun 2009 10:13:01 +0000http://englishlingq.com/246-steve-mark-nhl-playoffs-intermediateMark and Steve start out talking about the National Hockey League playoffs but quickly veer off onto other subjects including Barack Obama’s recent statement about the US being a muslim country and the financial crisis.Difficulty: IntermediateCate...

]]>Mark and Steve start out talking about the NHL playoffs but quickly veer off onto other subjects including Barack Obama’s recent statement about the US being a muslim country and thefinancial crisis.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/246-steve-mark-nhl-playoffs-intermediate/feed0#245 Steve & Mark – Official Language Policies – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/245-steve-mark-official-language-policies-int
http://englishlingq.com/245-steve-mark-official-language-policies-int#respondWed, 27 May 2009 17:38:27 +0000http://englishlingq.com/245-steve-mark-official-language-policies-intMark and Steve talk about official language policies in Canada and the many non-sensical things that go on.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: EducationDuration: 20:32Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Offi...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/245-steve-mark-official-language-policies-int/feed0#244 Mark & Steve – Politics and Democracy, Part 2 – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/244-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-2
http://englishlingq.com/244-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-2#respondThu, 21 May 2009 13:42:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/244-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-2Mark and Steve discuss a recent provincial election in British Columbia talking about politics in general and the democratic system.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: PoliticsDuration: 13:15 Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Cl...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/244-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-2/feed0#243 Mark & Steve – Politics and Democracy, Part 1 – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/243-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-1
http://englishlingq.com/243-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-1#respondThu, 14 May 2009 16:49:17 +0000http://englishlingq.com/243-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-1Mark and Steve discuss a recent provincial election in British Columbia talking about politics in general and the democratic system.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: PoliticsDuration: 14:55Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Cli...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/243-mark-steve-politics-and-democracy-part-1/feed0#242 Mark & Steve – Seal Hunt – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/242-mark-steve-seal-hunt-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/242-mark-steve-seal-hunt-intermediate#respondThu, 07 May 2009 02:37:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/242-mark-steve-seal-hunt-intermediateMark and Steve talk about hunting of seals and the recent banning of the importation of seal products by the European Union. They also touch on the Swine Flu again and the possible move to Canada of an American professional hockey team.Difficulty:...

]]>Mark and Steve talk about seal hunt and the recent banning of the importation of seal products by the European Union. They also touch on the Swine Flu again and the possible move to Canada of an American professional hockey team.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/242-mark-steve-seal-hunt-intermediate/feed0#241 Mark & Steve – Swine Flu – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/241-mark-steve-swine-flu-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/241-mark-steve-swine-flu-intermediate#respondThu, 30 Apr 2009 12:12:22 +0000http://englishlingq.com/241-mark-steve-swine-flu-intermediateMark and Steve discuss the Swine Flu but as usual do a fair bit of wandering around.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current AffairsDuration: 18:33Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to Swine Flu.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/241-mark-steve-swine-flu-intermediate/feed0#240 Mark & Steve – Financial Crisis in the News – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/240-mark-steve-financial-crisis-in-the-news-i
http://englishlingq.com/240-mark-steve-financial-crisis-in-the-news-i#respondFri, 24 Apr 2009 16:15:19 +0000http://englishlingq.com/240-mark-steve-financial-crisis-in-the-news-iMark and Steve talk about the press coverage of the Financial Crisis as well as touching on a few other news stories including the World Anti-Racism Conference in Geneva.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current AffairsDuration: 21:03Click here to...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/239-mark-steve-gillette-commercial-intermedia/feed0#238 Mark & Steve – Words in the News – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/238-mark-steve-words-in-the-news-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/238-mark-steve-words-in-the-news-intermediate#respondThu, 09 Apr 2009 12:34:52 +0000http://englishlingq.com/238-mark-steve-words-in-the-news-intermediateMark and Steve talk about certain words which are used to influence how we interpret the news, drawing on recent articles in the newspaper.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: PoliticsDuration: 20:11Click here to see the transcript of this podcast.Cl...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/238-mark-steve-words-in-the-news-intermediate/feed0#237 Mark & Steve – Childhood Obesity and More (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/237-mark-steve-childhood-obesity-and-more-int
http://englishlingq.com/237-mark-steve-childhood-obesity-and-more-int#respondWed, 01 Apr 2009 11:13:09 +0000http://englishlingq.com/237-mark-steve-childhood-obesity-and-more-intMark and Steve talk about a recent study on childhood obesity and about the removal of the president of General Motors by President Obama’s government.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Health and BeautyDuration: 21:42Click here to see the full tra...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/237-mark-steve-childhood-obesity-and-more-int/feed0#236 Steve on Radio in Kansas City – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/236-steve-on-radio-in-kansas-city-intermediat
http://englishlingq.com/236-steve-on-radio-in-kansas-city-intermediat#respondWed, 04 Mar 2009 13:29:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/236-steve-on-radio-in-kansas-city-intermediatSteve is continuing his cross country US radio tour. Here he is interviewed by Ann Butenas of KCTE Kansas City.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language LearningDuration: 22:39Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to li...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/236-steve-on-radio-in-kansas-city-intermediat/feed0#235 Steve on the Jon and Mary Radio Show in Milwaukee, USA – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/235-steve-on-the-jon-and-mary-radio-show-in-m
http://englishlingq.com/235-steve-on-the-jon-and-mary-radio-show-in-m#respondWed, 25 Feb 2009 13:56:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/235-steve-on-the-jon-and-mary-radio-show-in-mSteve has been conducting interviews with a variety of radio stations in the United States. Here he speaks with Jon and Mary of WFON-FM/Milwaukee about his favourite subject, language learning.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language LearningDur...

]]>Steve has been conducting interviews with a variety of radio stations in the United States. Here he speaks with Jon and Mary of WFON-FM/Milwaukee Radio Show about his favorite subject, language learning.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/234-mark-steve-are-kids-overprogrammed-interm/feed0#233 Mark & Steve – Political Correctness – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/233-mark-steve-political-correctness-intermed
http://englishlingq.com/233-mark-steve-political-correctness-intermed#respondWed, 11 Feb 2009 09:12:06 +0000http://englishlingq.com/233-mark-steve-political-correctness-intermedToday, Mark and Steve talk about the prevailing orthodoxy of political correctness.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: PoliticsDuration: 18:59 Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Click here to listen to Mark & Steve on Political C...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/233-mark-steve-political-correctness-intermed/feed0#232 Mark & Steve – Learning to Speak – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/232-mark-steve-learning-to-speak-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/232-mark-steve-learning-to-speak-intermediate#respondWed, 04 Feb 2009 19:18:06 +0000http://englishlingq.com/232-mark-steve-learning-to-speak-intermediateMark and Steve talk about how to make the transition from understanding a new language to speaking that language.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language LearningDuration: 16:41Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to ...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/232-mark-steve-learning-to-speak-intermediate/feed0#231 Mark & Steve – Impressions of Barack Obama – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/231-mark-steve-impressions-of-barack-obama-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/231-mark-steve-impressions-of-barack-obama-intermediate#respondWed, 28 Jan 2009 14:52:38 +0000http://englishlingq.com/231-mark-steve-barack-obama-intermediateMark and Steve talk about their impressions of Barack Obama and the recent inauguration ceremonies in the United States.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current Affairs Duration: 16:00Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click he...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/231-mark-steve-impressions-of-barack-obama-intermediate/feed0Beginner #44 – Eating Out, Part 10http://englishlingq.com/beginner-44-eating-out-part-10
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-44-eating-out-part-10#respondWed, 28 Jan 2009 09:38:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-44-eating-out-part-10A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 10 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diff...

]]>Eating Out: A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 10 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-44-eating-out-part-10/feed0Beginner #43 – Eating Out, Part 9http://englishlingq.com/beginner-43-eating-out-part-9
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-43-eating-out-part-9#respondWed, 21 Jan 2009 09:37:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-43-eating-out-part-9A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 9 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>Eating Out: A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 9 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-43-eating-out-part-9/feed0#230 Mark & Steve – Blatant Self-Promotion – (Intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/230-mark-steve-blatant-self-promotion-interme
http://englishlingq.com/230-mark-steve-blatant-self-promotion-interme#respondThu, 15 Jan 2009 13:44:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/230-mark-steve-blatant-self-promotion-intermeMark and Steve talk about language learning systems that are available and why they believe LingQ is a better way to go.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Language LearningDuration: 15:33Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click h...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/230-mark-steve-blatant-self-promotion-interme/feed0Beginner #42 – Eating Out, Part 8http://englishlingq.com/beginner-42-eating-out-part-8
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-42-eating-out-part-8#respondWed, 14 Jan 2009 09:36:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-42-eating-out-part-8A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 8 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 8 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/229-mark-steve-skiing-big-white-intermediate/feed0Beginner #41 – Eating Out, Part 7http://englishlingq.com/beginner-41-eating-out-part-7
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-41-eating-out-part-7#respondWed, 07 Jan 2009 09:35:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-41-eating-out-part-7A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 7 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 7 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-41-eating-out-part-7/feed0Beginner #40 – Eating Out, Part 6http://englishlingq.com/beginner-40-eating-out-part-6
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-40-eating-out-part-6#respondWed, 31 Dec 2008 09:34:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-40-eating-out-part-6A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 6 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 6 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-40-eating-out-part-6/feed0Beginner #39 – Eating Out, Part 5http://englishlingq.com/beginner-39-eating-out-part-5
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-39-eating-out-part-5#respondWed, 24 Dec 2008 09:32:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-39-eating-out-part-5A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 5 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 5 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-39-eating-out-part-5/feed0Beginner #38 – Eating Out, Part 4http://englishlingq.com/beginner-38-eating-out-part-4
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-38-eating-out-part-4#respondWed, 17 Dec 2008 09:31:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-38-eating-out-part-4A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 4 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 4 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-38-eating-out-part-4/feed0Beginner #37 – Eating Out, Part 3http://englishlingq.com/beginner-37-eating-out-part-3
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-37-eating-out-part-3#respondWed, 10 Dec 2008 09:30:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-37-eating-out-part-3A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 3 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 3 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/228-annie-and-kyle-intermediate/feed0Beginner #36 – Eating Out, Part 2http://englishlingq.com/beginner-36-eating-out-part-2
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-36-eating-out-part-2#respondWed, 03 Dec 2008 09:29:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-36-eating-out-part-2A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 2 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 2 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-36-eating-out-part-2/feed0Beginner #35 – Eating Out, Part 1http://englishlingq.com/beginner-35-eating-out-part-1
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-35-eating-out-part-1#respondWed, 26 Nov 2008 09:28:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-35-eating-out-part-1A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 1 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation. Diffi...

]]>A simple dialogue which takes place in a restaurant. Part 1 of 14 episodes. It is a good idea to listen many times to each part. This story is available in other languages at LingQ. You can use these versions to provide a direct translation.

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-35-eating-out-part-1/feed0#227 Mark & Steve – Trip to Europe – (intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/227-mark-steve-trip-to-europe-intermediate
http://englishlingq.com/227-mark-steve-trip-to-europe-intermediate#respondTue, 25 Nov 2008 19:30:21 +0000http://englishlingq.com/227-mark-steve-traveling-europe-intermediateSteve tells Mark about his recent trip to Europe. They also discuss different approaches to children’s education.Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: TravelDuration: 16:41Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast.Click here to listen to T...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/227-mark-steve-trip-to-europe-intermediate/feed0Beginner #34 – Greetings and Goodbyes, Part 8http://englishlingq.com/beginner-34-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-8
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-34-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-8#respondWed, 19 Nov 2008 17:19:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-34-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-8A simple dialogue introducing some of the common greetings and salutations. Part 8 of 8 episodes. This simple story is available in other languages at LingQ. Difficulty: BeginnerCategory: 1. Beginner IDuration: 0:44 Click here to see the full tran...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-34-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-8/feed0Beginner #33 – Greetings and Goodbyes, Part 7http://englishlingq.com/beginner-33-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-7
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-33-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-7#respondWed, 12 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-33-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-7A simple dialogue introducing some of the common greetings and salutations. Part 7 of 8 episodes. This simple story is available in other languages at LingQ. Difficulty: BeginnerCategory: 1. Beginner IDuration: 0:39 Click here to see the full tran...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-33-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-7/feed0Beginner #32 – Greetings and Goodbyes, Part 6http://englishlingq.com/beginner-32-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-6
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-32-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-6#respondWed, 05 Nov 2008 17:17:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-32-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-6A simple dialogue introducing some of the common greetings and salutations. Part 6 of 8 episodes. This simple story is available in other languages at LingQ. Difficulty: BeginnerCategory: 1. Beginner IDuration: 0:47 Click here to see the full tran...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-32-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-6/feed0#226 Tom and Steve Talk about the US Election – (intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/226-tom-and-steve-talk-about-the-us-election
http://englishlingq.com/226-tom-and-steve-talk-about-the-us-election#respondWed, 29 Oct 2008 16:26:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/226-tom-and-steve-talk-about-the-us-electionLingQ founder Steve in casual conversation with his brother Tom, who is visiting Vancouver from Toronto. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: Current AffairsDuration: 15:22 Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Click here to listen t...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/226-tom-and-steve-talk-about-the-us-election/feed0Beginner #31 – Greetings and Goodbyes, Part 5http://englishlingq.com/beginner-31-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-5
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-31-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-5#respondWed, 29 Oct 2008 16:16:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-31-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-5A simple dialogue introducing some of the common greetings and salutations. Part 5 of 8 episodes. This simple story is available in other languages at LingQ. Difficulty: BeginnerCategory: 1. Beginner IDuration: 0:49 Click here to see the full tran...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-31-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-5/feed0Beginner #30 – Greetings and Goodbyes, Part 4http://englishlingq.com/beginner-30-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-4
http://englishlingq.com/beginner-30-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-4#respondWed, 22 Oct 2008 16:14:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/beginner-30-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-4A simple dialogue introducing some of the common greetings and salutations. Part 4 of 8 episodes. This simple story is available in other languages at LingQ. Difficulty: BeginnerCategory: 1. Beginner IDuration: 0:38 Click here to see the full tran...

]]>http://englishlingq.com/beginner-30-greetings-and-goodbyes-part-4/feed0#225 Tom Talks to Steve about His Work – (intermediate)http://englishlingq.com/225-tom-talks-to-steve-about-his-work-interme
http://englishlingq.com/225-tom-talks-to-steve-about-his-work-interme#respondWed, 22 Oct 2008 16:07:00 +0000http://englishlingq.com/225-tom-talks-to-steve-about-his-work-intermeLingQ founder Steve in casual conversation with his brother Tom, who is visiting Vancouver from Toronto. Difficulty: IntermediateCategory: MarketingDuration: 11:46 Click here to see the full transcript of this podcast. Click here to listen to the ...